“We’ve got to make sure we become better at creating and taking our chances, otherwise it’s going to be tough,” he continued.

Commenting on the manner in which the Irons have failed to win, and the defensive nature of Christmas football, he noted that, “The balls into the box haven’t been given enough quality to open up a defence as everybody starts tightening up at this stage of the season.”

With a number of injuries to key players the Hammers boss has been limited in personnel. Most notably Allardyce has a huge gap to fill in central midfield since Mohamed Diame’s injury.

“We haven’t had our best team out for ages and since we beat Chelsea, our points total has diminished rather than kicked on from there,” he said.

“Normally when you get a result as big as that one you kick on and get more and more results as the euphoria keeps you going.

“The injuries have unfortunately kicked in and we’ve not been able to pick up the results we wanted to.

“It’s about getting the players back fit and then keeping them fit, and then we’ll be OK but that’s got to happen very quickly now.”